All Forum Posts by: Carl Simon

Hi BP Community,

Wanted to get your advice on my current troublesome situation in dealing with the title company who handled my first buy-and-hold deal in Baltimore city.  The bottom line question - should I ask for my money back? And if they refuse, any other ideas of recourse?  Is this really as ridiculous as I think it is?? 

The title company made the following three mistakes / inappropriate actions:

1. When I got to the closing table the cost listed on the HUD-1 for their services exceeded their initial quote which was used to select them. I pointed this out and they quietly fixed it.

2. They failed to release my HMS Home Warranty funds to the company. Thankfully no systems failed or repairs were needed while my account was inactive, but if there had been, they would not have been covered.

3. The biggest of all - they failed to release my city taxes collected at closing to the city.  The result was that my property was in delinquent status back in August. My mortgage holder (Chase) did a good job and proactively released funds out of escrow to avoid any immediate repercussions (tax sale?). However this caused my escrow to go into the negative and they sent me a notice saying that I owed a year in taxes or an additional $100/mo. This obviously did not sound right so I called them and did some troubleshooting with their escrow specialist (great guy!) and figured out that the title company never released my initial tax payment.  When I altered them to this they admitted to it and released the funds. 

Overall this is my first hold property this past June and it has gone pretty well.  My main lesson is the things I thought would be hard (tenants, repairs etc.) have been easy, and the issues I thought would be easy/non-issues (city tax increases, water bills, title issues) being hard!  

Any advice you have in dealing with the situation would be appreciated. Or maybe I am just looking for confirmation that I was being ripped off!

Thanks,

Carl

Awesome job!

Kerri Tkatch with the Chris Cooke team. Especially if you're interested in the nicer neighborhoods - federal hill, canton etc. she owns properties herself.

Welcome from a fellow Baltimore newbie!

Welcome to BP from a fellow new dad! Makes you look at life differently and value financial independence much more, huh?

Sounds like a good deal and I agree that you should pursue it. As someone wise once told me "One dolla is better than no dolla" and in your case $400 is better than $0 in cash flow. In my one and only rental deal I learned a lot about the rental market and what the supply/demand is out there only once I posted it. Everyone here wisely focuses on costs and selling price, but don't forget to do a lot of research on this side of the coin as well.

Congrats! How does it feel - Like that scene in Shawahank Redemption with Tim Robbins standing in the rain liberated, with glorious music playing in the background??? Interested in hearing your story as well.

Hi Arthur, In my experience living and looking at RE here in Baltimore you will need to invest more than $50-70k to get in the good areas areas, unless that is your down payment. For the ones that I am familiar with the most desirable neighborhoods are federal hill, canton, fells point, locust point. There fully renovated row homes go for $200k+. Homes rent quick in all these with quality tenants. Next tier would be Highlandtown, station north, Paterson. 150k there probably. There are other neighborhoods such as Hamilton which is growing, and Roland park which is very very nice. The story of the city is block by block with each neighborhood a micro culture. I would be careful and become familiar and comfortable with the area before you buy.

Welcome from a fellow baltimore RE newbie!

Welcome Erin! From a fellow Baltimore newbie.